File:Columbarium - NE at wall - Arlington National Cemetery - 2011.JPG

English: Looking northeast at the Columbarium Wall at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The photographer was standing due west of the Nimitz Shelter.

The first, columbarium, Columbarium Court #1, opened at Arlington in April 1980. By June 1998, there were six columbarium courts. In 1999, Arlington National Cemetery developed a master plan for the use of its land. The master plan included plans to build Phase Four and Five of the columbarium complex. It called for a central ellipse (planted with trees, shrubs and flowers) between Courts #3/#5 and Courts #4/#6, and for a second outdoor shelter to be built on the eastern end of the complex.

Phase Four was approved in 2001. Court #8 was completed in 2005, and Court #7 and the shelter (named "Nimitz Shelter" after U.S. Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz) in 2007. In 2008, the cemetery began construction of Phase Five, a half mile boundary wall along Jefferson Davis Highway. The perimeter wall, which begins at the visitor's parking lot in the north and runs south just past the columbarium complex, originally was to include 5,000 niches along its interior. However, this was increased to 6,573 niches. Each of the niches can accommodate three urns. Designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and constructed by Forrester Construction of Rockville, Maryland, it cost $5.6 million to build. Construction finished in December 2008 and it opened in January 2009. Cemetery officials plan to extend the Columbarium Wall around the entire length of Arlington National Cemetery.

In 2009, cemetery officials began planning Columbarium Court #9, to be placed on the grassy area in the image (center and bottom-center). Measuring 540 feet from north to south and 116 feet from east to west, the court is planned for the empty rectangular section across the access road from Courts #7 and #8. It will contain 20,200 niches and feature a landscaped fountain courtyard as the focal point.